CALGARY — Environmental charges have been laid against Plains Midstream Canada ULC nearly two years after an oil pipeline failure that spilled nearly half a million litres of sour crude oil into a central Alberta river system.

The company faces a federal charge under the Fisheries Act and a provincial charge under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, the latter for failing to report a release of crude oil from a pipeline, the AER announced late Friday.

It is to make its first appearance in Red Deer Court Tuesday at 9:30 on the two charges. The maximum penalty for provincial offences is $500,000 per offence, said Michelle Davio, assistant director and issues manager for Alberta Justice and the Solicitor General’s office.

The leak from the company’s Rangeland Pipeline on June 7, 2012, resulted in 2,900 barrels of oil being released.

The U.S.-based company had also had a pipeline leak in 2011 of 4.5 million litres of oil near Peace River in northern Alberta. Three charges were laid in April of last year in connection with the incident but the company has yet to enter a plea — the charges are also being brought to Red Deer on Tuesday, Davio said.

AER spokesman Darin Barter said Monday an audit of Plains Midstream’s Alberta operations launched last year is ongoing and the regulator’s extra oversight — every application must be approved by AER chief executive Jim Ellis — is delaying even routine applications.

“We look at every application they put forward and scrutinize it in light of all of the incidents and the concerns that we have,” he said.

“Just generally, when you have the leadership of the AER looking at the applications themselves, it will take quite a bit longer than a routine application.”

Plains Midstream’s parent company, Plains All-American Pipeline, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

In March, the Alberta Energy Regulator issued a report that concluded Plains Midstream didn’t inspect the Rangeland pipeline often enough, didn’t pay enough attention to government warnings, failed to enact adequate mitigation measures once the leak occurred and communicated poorly with hundreds of people affected by the spill in June 2012.

“Plains failed to apply appropriate mitigation measures according to its own hazard assessment,” it said.

The 2012 spill — which led then-premier Alison Redford to call for a review of pipeline integrity in the province — was discovered when landowners just north of Sundre began phoning in reports of smelling rotten eggs, the telltale odour of sour gas or sour oil. The spill was soon tracked to Jackson Creek, which flows into the Red Deer River.

Heavy rains had recently swollen the flow in the creek to 10 times the normal amount.

The regulator concluded the heavy flow eroded the riverbed around the pipe and exposed it. The pipeline then experienced a “guillotine failure” at a weld circling the pipe.

Colin Kure, who has a farm near the river and was one of the first to report the spill, said Monday the charges are a good sign but he doesn’t have a lot of confidence there won’t be more spills.

“All I can say it’s a wake-up call,” he said. “I think the AER is going to be more attentive than they have been in the past but the province is not doing enough to protect the Eastern Slopes watershed.”

He said the province should require companies to have shut-off valves at every river crossing that automatically engage if there’s a pressure release.

Although the AER report concluded there were no structural problems with the 50-year-old Rangeland line, the investigation found the frequency of the company’s inspections met neither provincial rules nor its own guidelines.

Plains also failed to take advantage of high stream flow warnings to isolate and purge the pipeline section, the report states.

Booms to catch oil were set up downstream on the Gleniffer reservoir, a popular boating and recreation lake. The marina and campground were closed and fishing shut down.

Drinking water was trucked in for people in 750 recreation lots and permanent homes. Rafting, fishing and guiding businesses were affected.

More than 170 people were at one time cleaning up the 475,000-litre spill with lake-surface skimmers and absorbent pads along the creek.

In a statement in March, Plains Midstream said the company is reviewing the regulator’s report and is working to meet its requirements.

Barter said the charges are the first the AER has laid since taking over that responsibility from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development on March 29.

Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada, said Monday the charges are good news.

“We’re glad that charges were finally laid in this incident, but it’s definitely disappointing that it has taken so long and it does beg the question whether more should be done given the severity of the lapses of Plains Midstream — everything from failing to inspect their pipelines properly to failing to heed government warnings to failing to really alert the public properly.

“All of those potentially suggest more should be done. I think the incident itself is really emblematic itself of a lot of different pipeline problems to hit the province and those problems have still yet to be addressed.”

dhealing@calgaryherald.com

With files from Bill Mah, Postmedia News

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